


By Blood and Flame

by OptimisticBeth



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben's family wants him to change majors, College, F/M, First Time, Light Side and Dark Side as Majors, Magic, Modern Fantasy, Students, University, Witches, magic is known, virgins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:20:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25772722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OptimisticBeth/pseuds/OptimisticBeth
Summary: Rey can’t go to her professors with this spell. She needs help, though, needs someone to do the spell with her, and she needs the best because it’s tricky. Dangerous.There’s a boy on campus. Powerful. Mysterious. He’s admired and envied, feared and loathed, depending on who’s talking, but for all everyone knows hisstory, no one seems to really knowhim. And Rey… Rey has been curious about him for… well, for longer than she wants to admit.She’s not sure if it’s good or bad luck that he’s the perfect person to help cast her spell.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 145
Kudos: 732





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some minor medical issues and writer's block have temporarily stopped progress on Coveted, so here's a thing that's _mostly_ finished as apology for the long wait.

She found him in the rare books room, tucked away at a corner table, his long nose buried in a huge tome that looked hundreds of years old. He worried at the end of his pen with his teeth between jotting notes in a spiral notebook.

She watched him too long, she supposed, because he finally hissed " _What?!_ " and raised his head to glare at her.

Rey offered an awkward half-smile, and the glare melted into confusion. He sat up straight and laid his pen aside.

"What do _you_ want?" he asked, but it wasn't aggressive this time, just curious.

Rey took the seat opposite him, folding her hands in her lap. This close, the book smelled like rotting things.

"What's it bound with?" she asked, unable to help herself. It was thick and black and probably styled with complicated symbols that made chills run down her back (most dark spellbooks _were_ , after all).

"Troll skin," he replied absently, and she looked up, into his eyes.

He wasn't joking.

"Oh great," she said faintly.

He narrowed his eyes, but it looked more like he was trying to read her mind than warn her away. (Not that he _could_ read her mind, not without a ritual circle and a difficult-to-brew potion, though she would bet her favorite spellbook that he had the skill to pull it off.) "Did you just come here to judge my reading material, or…?" He shook his head, raising an expectant brow.

"I was hoping you could… help me with something."

"I'm not exactly the 'helping' type," he replied, but again she detected no animosity.

It was as much of an invitation as she supposed she'd get. "A deal, actually," she clarified. "I don't expect you to help me for nothing." His mouth grew a bit tight at that, his eyes cooler, so she waited.

His mouth worked over the words before he said, "Of course not."

The words were neutral, but he looked almost… angry.

She didn't know what she'd said to upset him, so she just plowed on. "I need help with a spell. It's difficult, and dangerous, and it needs two people."

He nodded and leaned back to fold his arms across his chest. "So you came to me because you don’t want to endanger your little friends."

Annoyance made her answer sharper than she intended. "I came to you because I don't want to end up a smear on the floor. Aside from the professors, you're the best spellcaster on campus."

A quirk of his lips, and she thought the compliment had defused his anger, but he just said, "Bullshit."

Rey blinked at him. "What?"

He unfolded his arms and leaned forward. "You don't think I'm the best. You think _you_ are."

Rey opened her mouth to defend herself, but she caught the amusement in his eye, and she huffed. It wasn't like he was _wrong_. "My friends aren't good enough to help me with this."

"That's not all of it, though," he murmured, gaze boring into her so that she felt stripped bare. "You could have asked one of your professors — we both know they'd do anything for you. My family in particular would jump at the chance.” A quirk of his lips, and there was bitterness there. He wasn’t even hiding it. “No, there's another reason you choose _me_." He examined her expression, preternaturally intent, before a glint of understanding lit his eye. "Ah. I see. It's a dark spell."

Rey looked at her hands in her lap and wondered when she'd clenched them together. "Yes."

She looked up to see him nod, his self-satisfied smirk smoothing away to something more serious. "It's good you didn't ask any of my professors. They know their shit, but they'd take advantage." She frowned, and he shrugged. "It's what they do."

"And you don't?"

He didn't even flinch, his gaze steady as a rock and suddenly intense. "Oh, I do. But I'm not as gifted at manipulation as them. And, honestly, I don’t even want your soul. Or your firstborn. So."

Rey wanted to squirm under his gaze, but this was a negotiation. She needed to show strength. "What would you want?"

He stared at her for a long while, thinking. Finally, his eyes flickered down to her chest, and he asked, "Are you a virgin?"

" _What_?"

He blinked, seemed to see that she was uncomfortable, and rolled his eyes. "Jesus, calm down. I need the blood spilled when a virgin is deflowered. For a spell. It was going to be a fucking pain to get, but if you're a virgin, you can just collect yours for me when you… you know. Lose it." He made a vague hand gesture and averted his eyes, cheeks turning pink.

Rey fought the urge to cover her breasts with her arms. "I… don't really plan to 'lose it' anytime soon."

He waved a hand again. "Whenever. So long as you don't forget." And the intensity was back.

Rey nodded. Considered. Sized him up. The strongest dark witch of his generation, poster boy for the dark arts. His classmates all looked up to him or hated him, or both. There were plenty of rumors, plenty of things she'd expected, had prepared herself for. Which was probably why she asked, "You… aren't going to insist on doing the deflowering yourself?"

He pinned her with an unamused look. "Are you offering?"

Startled, Rey shook her head, and he nodded like he'd expected that reaction. He picked his pen back up and flipped to a clean page in his notebook. "So, what's the spell you need help with?"

But Rey was still thinking about her part of the deal. "What if I did?"

His reply was absent because he was still focused on the blank paper. "What?"

"Offer."

His eyes rose, confused, before realization made his face go blank.

Shocked.

She had _shocked_ Ben Solo, child prodigy, dark son of the dark arts.

"What?" he repeated, though his voice this time was dry and raspy, and his eyes were wide.

He almost looked terrified.

"I don't really want to go for years with a debt like this hanging over my head. I think… I'd rather just get it out of the way."

He frowned, every inch of him tensed. "You have friends," he pointed out. "A-and classmates. _Literally_ anyone you want, you could just… crook a finger at them. It doesn't have to be me."

"If you don't want to…" she said gently, offering him an out.

"I want to," he said quickly. _Very_ quickly. "I'd be… honored. I just don't know why you'd want _me_."

Rey shrugged self-consciously and looked at the book he'd been reading when she came in. "For one, any partner I have will want to know why I want to stop and collect my own blood." She flushed. "And… there aren't a lot of people I'm attracted to, anyway."

"Oh." His frown deepened before disappearing. " _Oh!_ " And he was looking her over again, like a puzzle he'd just solved.

"I'm not asexual, dumbass," she snapped, and he honest-to-God _blushed_. She bit her lip on telling him he was one of the few boys on campus she _was_ attracted to and instead muttered, "Plus I can write it into the contract that you can't tell anybody."

"Oh," he said flatly. And he pressed the nib of his pen to the paper. "Yeah. Of course."

They hashed out the details of the contract for the next half hour.

Rey had to divulge the spell she wanted to try — a dark spell that her professors _definitely_ wouldn't approve of but that would give her a glimpse of her parents, where they disappeared to, and why they gave her up.

The broad scope was the reason she needed someone as gifted as Ben Solo by her side. The more a witch asked a spell to do, the more complex it became.

They decided that Ben would help her attempt it _one_ time, to the best of his ability, and any assistance beyond that would be at his discretion.

Once was all she felt comfortable asking of him, anyway. It was so dangerous that she didn’t think she’d want to push him to try again if they failed.

Once they had that hammered out, it was his turn.

“I’m not going to put in who you have to sleep with, or when,” he said as he wrote, and she could tell this was something he wasn’t going to bend on. “And I’ll add a note that I can only use the blood for the one spell and then I have to destroy the rest.” He pierced her with a sober look. “Never — _ever_ — give your blood, hair, or skin to a dark witch without pinning down exactly what they’re allowed to do with it, in writing, sealed in a contract. Got it?”

Rey swallowed and nodded. “Got it.”

He nodded and went back to writing, leaving Rey to wonder why the hell he was covering _her_ bases. Wasn’t she supposed to fight him for every inch? Wasn’t he supposed to pull the wool over her eyes and cackle evilly and make her regret ever approaching him for help?

Instead, he was being… kind. Protective, even.

It wasn’t like Rey hadn’t thought he might ask for payment in sex. She’d been ready to say yes, the price small in comparison to finding out about her past.

So she’d thought about it, about what it might be like… with _him_.

What expression he might wear as he proposed she spread her legs for him.

It had made her feel hot and flushed in the dark of her room, had made her sneak a hand beneath her underwear to toy with herself.

“What if I don’t bleed? When I…” She waved a hand vaguely, unable to say it.

Ben didn’t even bother to look up. "Hymen blood is the old-fashioned way, but any blood will do. It just has to be taken within a certain time frame." His voice was steady enough, but she saw a flush on his cheeks.

She stared at that little hint of humanity for a moment. "Huh. I did not know that."

He shrugged, still not looking at her. "Yeah, well. Not much reason for white witches to know it."

She watched him for another few moments. “What’s the spell you’re going to use it for?”

He looked up. Swallowed. Set the pen down. His mouth did something vulnerable, and he sat back in his chair. “I want to summon my grandfather’s spirit.”

Rey considered that and asked the obvious question. “Seance didn’t work?”

Ben shook his head. “He’s too strong. Stronger than me, even in death.” The words sounded like they pained him, but the pain was quickly consumed by anger. “I need to know what he knows. I need his guidance. I can’t get what I need from fucking _Snoke_.” He spat the name. Then he seemed to realize where he was and visibly calmed himself. “My connection to him should be enough to focus the spell so I can bind him to this plane and force him to answer my questions. I just need the right ingredients to perform the ritual.”

“Can’t your family answer your questions?”

Ben sighed and looked toward a shelf of rare old books. “I’m not exactly dead to them, but they act like… like I’ve betrayed the family or something. All they want to talk about is whether I’m ready to ‘come back.’ They would never help me contact Anakin Skywalker.”

Anakin Skywalker had been Dean of the Dark Arts before Snoke and had held the position until a sudden heart attack at fifty had taken everyone by surprise. It had only been Luke Skywalker’s admission that he’d been treating his father’s heart issues for years that had removed suspicion of foul play.

His portrait hung on the gallery wall in the administrative building alongside other past and current deans.

“Here,” Ben said, turning the notebook around again. “Look over it. See if we missed anything.”

He’d added the specific name of the spell he wanted to try and had removed any wiggle room he had to misappropriate her blood. It looked fair.

“Okay,” she finally said.

He carefully tore the page out of his notebook and pulled a pen knife out of his backpack, the kind most students had for spellwork. “Shall we make it official?” he asked.

Rey pulled out her own pen knife and nodded.

He glanced at the ancient book on the table. “I should clean this up first. The librarians will kill us if we damage the books.”

“Good thought,” Rey agreed, and she watched him put it carefully away before he returned and cleared his things off the table, leaving only the contract and their knives.

“One last thing,” he said as they opened their knives. “Always check the back of a contract before you sign it. It’s way too easy to sneak something in on the reverse.”

Rey flipped it over.

Nothing.

She turned it face-up on the table between them and nodded.

“Okay.” He smoothly pricked himself on the arm, then pressed his thumb into the blood and smeared it on the contract. Rey did the same and thanked him when he passed her a dot bandaid. Once they’d tended their wounds, Ben pulled out a lighter and they both held one edge of the paper as he lit it.

It went up quickly, sealing their agreement in blood and flame.

The paper didn’t leave ashes or smoke, not the way it would have if they’d burnt it as a simple sheet of paper. Blood and intent changed it, made it something _else_ , something magical.

“Your first time with a magic contract?” Ben asked as they shouldered their bags.

Rey nodded. “Yeah.” She and her friends mostly just did favors for each other, no negotiations needed. She trusted them not to try to take advantage or go back on a deal.

Ben snorted. “It’s freshman-level dark arts,” he said. “Hell, I’ve drawn up one of these for most of my group projects. Everyone is locked into what part of the project they’re supposed to do, and they can’t force you to pick up their slack.”

“Isn’t that a little extreme?” she asked. Breaking a magical contract had serious consequences. Your magic would start to rebound on you, spells failing more often than not until you couldn’t cast much of anything at all. There were ways to break a contract, but it was more complicated than just fulfilling the contract in the first place.

Ben shrugged. “You can write in specific penalties. It’s just supposed to be a deterrent, a punishment for failure.” He tossed her a wry little grin that made him look adorably approachable. “If someone would rather deal with golf-ball-sized hemorrhoids than write a fifth of a term paper, then who am I to stop them?”

Rey choked on a laugh, and Ben held the door open for her. “Oh my. Has anyone ever…?”

“Once,” he said with relish. “And they deserved every second of it.”

“My friend Poe went out with this one girl who cursed him when he broke up with her.” It had been an impotence spell, and she’d had to help dig up the countercurse.

Ben nodded sagely. “He probably didn’t use a condom.” At Rey’s curious glance, he said, “My dad told me some horror stories. The lesson of many of them was ‘never leave semen where an angry witch can find it.’"

Rey considered this as they walked down the front steps of the library. When they reached the sidewalk, she asked, “Are you going to wear a condom with me?”

Ben promptly tripped over his feet. “I… um… you don’t have to…”

“I told you there aren’t a lot of people on campus I’m attracted to.”

He had straightened and was looking down at her, too close, searching her face. “Then why don’t you ask one of the ones you _are_ attracted to?”

Rey smiled, tempted to laugh, and turned to go. Over her shoulder, she tossed, “For someone so smart, you sure are dumb.”

“What does that mean? Rey?” She laughed, still walking away, and he called after her, “What does that _mean_?”

* * *

“What does that even mean?” Ben muttered to himself as he made his way back to Revan Hall. It was late, and he was tired, and he had a quiz in the morning that he needed to study for.

But his head was still reeling with everything that had just happened.

Never in a million years would he have imagined the campus’ freckled darling would approach him and… and…

 _Jesus_ , he might get to fuck her.

He ran a hand through his hair, feeling lost and excited and terrified. He pushed through the doors to his dorm and ignored the sophomore who waved at him, making his way quickly up the stairs to his room.

He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about Rey before. Especially in _that_ context — dark arts girls didn’t do it for him, but something about her purity drew him. Something that said he could trust her, let his guard down, and be himself.

How long since he’d been allowed to just _be himself_ around… anyone? His family wanted him to hide the dark parts of his soul, his professors wanted him to hide the light.

He’d known someone like Rey would _never_ sleep with someone like him.

He supposed… he’d been wrong.

He still couldn’t quite wrap his head around it.

He leaned back against his locked door, grateful that he’d demanded a single this year as he pressed a hand against the front of his jeans and let out a hiss at how good it felt.

She had time to change her mind. He’d made sure she wouldn’t feel trapped, wouldn’t hate him when she realized that she had options. She probably wouldn’t let him fuck her, after all.

_Are you going to wear a condom with me?_

He gasped and pressed his palm down harder, thumping his head back against the door as he imagined those soft hazel eyes peering up at him from her knees, teasing, that wide mouth so close…

He released himself and closed his eyes, using light touches to pretend it was her, pretend she had that catlike smile she’d tossed over her shoulder at him, pretend she _wanted_ him.

Pretend she wanted _him_.

One rough stroke, a curse, and he came all over his hand and the floor.

He looked hazily down at the mess he’d made, breath harsh and loud in the quiet room.

He’d have to clean that up and dispose of it properly. He hadn’t been lying to Rey about the dangers of a dark witch getting hold of bodily fluids, and he did _not_ want to have his dick cursed off just because he couldn’t be assed to clean up after himself.

Especially right now, when Rey might be willing to let him use it on her.


	2. Chapter 2

Ben was at a coffee shop, studying between classes, when Rey dropped into the plush chair beside him and said, “So when do you want to do this?”

Ben choked on his coffee and spent a minute gracelessly coughing into his elbow before he could breathe well enough to glare at her and rasp, “Will you stop sneaking up on me?”

“Sorry,” she replied, rolling an apple back and forth between her palms. There was a metaphor somewhere in the motion, but Ben was too distracted to figure it out.

He swiped at the droplets of coffee that had gotten onto his notes and sighed. Nothing to be done for it, they were stained now. “Do you have your ingredients yet?”

“Uh huh,” she said, and he let her grab his notebook and pull it into her lap. “But I was thinking we’d go ahead and do your thing first.”

He had just taken _another_ sip of coffee, and it took a painful amount of effort to keep from spitting it out. Once he stopped _dying_ , he glared at her through red, watery eyes. “Why do you keep trying to kill me?”

Her grin was _not_ adorable. It _wasn’t_. And he _definitely_ didn’t notice the way her nose crinkled. “Why do you always freak out when I bring it up?”

“I don’t freak out,” he protested weakly, watching as she pulled a pouch of white powder out of her backpack and sprinkled some lightly across his notes.

“You get nervous,” she replied before murmuring a spell and blowing the powder away. When she handed the notebook back, the little splotches of coffee were gone.

"Thanks," he muttered.

"So when are you free?" she asked, leaning back in her chair and biting into her apple.

Ben did _not_ watch a trickle of juice run down her chin or the flex of her fingers as she wiped it away or notice the way the residual apple juice made her lips shine.

Rey didn't seem to notice his staring, because she said, "I found a spell we could do that boosts the strength of ingredients if you use it while gathering them. It's a pain in the ass for most stuff, but it might be worth trying for your thing."

Ben frowned, unsure, his brain clicking over from horny to analytical, and he was self-aware enough to be grateful for the distraction. "Do you have it with you?"

She did, and that was how Ben ended up spending the hour until his next class bent over a spellbook with the prettiest girl on campus, arguing the merits of a Victorian enhancement circle for gathering her blood.

* * *

Rey's hands shook a little as she lit the candles. They'd ultimately decided to do the enhancement circle, which meant they would be having sex inside it. On Ben's dorm room floor.

He'd pulled up his rug to make room for the necessary preparations, and had thoughtfully folded a blanket for her to lay on. She tried very hard not to think of it as The Sex Blanket.

By his bed, in arm's reach of where they'd be, he’d placed an empty jar, cotton swabs, and a box of condoms.

He looked nervous. As nervous as she felt, probably.

"You don't have to do this if you're uncomfortable," she reminded him.

"Neither do you," he replied, and it was that right there, his resistance, that confused her.

Did he want to do this, or not?

"I'm good," she assured him, because they'd already been down that other road, and it led nowhere. "Are you?"

Ben nodded, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. "Yeah. I… me too."

He was dressed in a t-shirt and sweatpants, comfortable and practical for their purpose. If she looked (and she might have taken a peek or three while they'd been setting up), she could see the soft outline of his cock.

Rey wore a nondescript shirt and yoga pants that hugged her ass, her feet bare and hair down.

"So," she said as they stood there looking at each other, all the prepwork done.

"I haven't done this before," he blurted.

Rey blinked at him, surprised, and it took her a moment to understand exactly what he was saying. "You're a virgin?"

His lips thinned, and he nodded, stiff like he was awaiting some judgement.

Rey tilted her head and considered. It wasn't like it made much difference, just… "Why couldn't you use your own blood, then?"

That didn't seem to be what he'd been expecting because his eyes widened, and he blinked a few times before answering. "When it comes to virgins, magic prefers women." He frowned and glanced away, speaking faster. "I don't know if it's the societal influence, thousands of years feeding it female virginity, if it can be trained to prefer one variety of ingredient over another, or if it's because only women can get pregnant, or if there’s some other factor, but virgin usually means _female_ virgin, except where specified otherwise. Male virgins are most useful for fertility potions, and it usually asks for semen, not blood. The whole thing would make an interesting research topic, actually…"

He trailed off when she stepped into his space and looked up at him.

She smiled gently, and his eyes widened. "You're stalling."

He let out a breath. "A little," he admitted, and his fingers flexed at his sides.

Rey's smile fell, and she took one of his hands. "It's okay," she whispered. She lifted her free hand to his cheek, and he turned into it, nuzzled her palm briefly before she slipped her fingers into his hair and gently pulled him toward her. When she could feel his breath on her lips, she rubbed her thumb over the hand she held and repeated, "It's okay." And as her eyes slipped closed, determined to let him decide when to close that last bit of distance, she breathed out the truth she'd been trying to hide. "I want you."

* * *

It was like electricity running down his spine, those words. Ben wrapped an arm around her back and pulled her in, gasping against her mouth the moment their lips touched. He wasn’t sure if he was doing this right. He didn’t want to be too eager or too rough, so he kind of froze.

Rey softened against him and licked shyly at his mouth, and he forgot to be self-conscious in the resulting tangle of tongues and tug of clothing.

He tried to follow when she pulled away to get rid of her shirt, and then he was left staring at the scrap of lace that barely covered her breasts.

She smiled and blushed and pushed her pants down in a smooth motion, revealing matching lace panties, and Ben’s brain short-circuited at the realization that she’d _prepared_ for this, had worn (maybe even _bought_ ) matching underwear for tonight. For him.

He didn’t know where to touch her, overwhelmed by all the skin on display, and he barely noticed when Rey nudged his arms up so she could pull his shirt off.

He _definitely_ noticed when she wiggled a hand under his sweats and wrapped it around him over his boxers, the heat of her palm leaking through.

She could have led him anywhere like this, guided him into traffic, pulled along by that gentle hand on his dick.

He whimpered, and she looked up at him with those innocent hazel eyes. He had to kiss her again, practically inhaled her, wanted to crawl into her and never leave. He surrounded her, cupped her ass, and lifted, making her squeak and release his dick so she could grab at his shoulders and wrap her legs around his waist.

He fell to the blanket he’d laid out, wincing at the impact as his knees hit the unforgiving floor through it, but then he was too busy laying her out beneath him and pushing his bottoms off, and Rey was gasping and staring at him, and he felt a hundred ways at once: awkward, nervous, horny, hopeful, miserable, terrified… and above it all that sweet, persistent arousal and the firm determination to make this good for her.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” he said, gazing down at her.

She flashed him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Me neither.”

He reached over to grab his supplies, pulled out a condom, and fumbled it on while Rey shimmied out of her underwear.

Once he was set, he dropped to his hands over her again, and they stared at each other. Ben swallowed, trying to tamp down his nerves, wishing Rey wouldn’t cover her bare breasts with her arms.

She looked beautiful in the candlelight, her skin glowing golden as the light flickered over it.

He leaned down to kiss her gently, afraid of moving too fast. He didn’t want to scare her.

She gradually relaxed under him, and her hands tentatively found his shoulders, urging him closer until he settled his body against hers and sucked in a breath at the heat of her core against his dick.

 _Wrap it before you tap it_ , as his dad always said, and Ben double-checked the condom before meeting Rey’s eye. “Ready?”

She nodded, breath coming faster as he guided himself to her entrance.

And then… _oh_. _Oh, God._

Heat and softness pulled at him, tempting him closer, and he struggled not to just thrust forward, watching her face to distract himself. She was biting her lip, eyes unfocused and brow furrowed, and he waited for her to nod before he pushed a fraction deeper. He took his cues from her hitching breaths and winces and desperately kissed her face and jawline while she adjusted, trying to soothe her and beg her at the same time.

 _Please please_ please _let me move._

It took an eternity, but finally he was all the way in her snug warmth, and he stayed still until she let out a long breath and relaxed, nodding again.

Ben slowly slid out, looking down at himself, and grabbed a cotton ball to rub it over the condom.

The white cotton came away stained lightly with pinkish blood, and Ben lifted it to show Rey.

She let out a soft breath. “Good.”

He nodded and used the cotton ball to wipe off his dick, picking up more blood, and dropped it into the empty jar. He then got another cotton ball and gently dabbed at her opening, dropping that one in with its twin.

The spell didn’t require more than the token of blood, so quantity didn’t matter. Ben screwed the lid on the jar and looked at Rey, gaze flickering from her spread legs to her face. “If you want to stop now…”

She lifted onto her elbows and gave him a flat glare. “I did not buy new underwear and shave my legs to stop _halfway through_ my deflowering.”

He laughed a little and crawled back over her, examining her expression. “You’re sure?”

She looped an arm around his neck, pulled him down, and kissed him.

It was a long, lingering kiss, full of heat, and Ben groaned into it, slotting himself at her entrance.

She grimaced lightly as he slowly pushed in, but she urged him on when he paused. Once he was fully seated in her again, he waited, letting her adjust, and ran the tip of his nose up her neck.

“I wish I could make this better for you.”

“It’s fine,” she replied, but he could tell from the way she held herself that she was sore. She stroked his hair, as if that would reassure him. “I think first times are _supposed_ to be awkward.”

“Awkward, not painful,” he protested.

“Hush,” she replied. She lifted her hips experimentally, and Ben sucked in a sharp gasp. Her proud grin made him think maybe she was enjoying herself more than he’d thought. “You can move.”

He slid out, watching her carefully, then pushed back in, mouth falling open with how _good_ it felt. “I’m not going to last long,” he warned her.

Her fingers threaded through his hair, and she squirmed into a more comfortable position. “Probably for the best.” She hooked her fingers together behind his neck and arched her back, giving him unimpeded access to her tits. “You can make it up to me next time.”

His tongue on her nipple and the idea of a “next time” had him thrusting firmly into her, eager for release, but her pained gasp had him stopping, pulling out.

“Ben,” she protested, reaching for him, trying to draw him back.

“I’m not going to do this if it hurts you,” he said firmly.

She bit her lip and glanced toward the jar with her blood in it. “What if it doesn’t count? What if you need to… you know… _finish_ for it to work?”

“It’ll work,” he said, vibrating with anger. “And fuck it if it doesn’t. I’m not going to _hurt you_ for a spell ingredient.”

“I promised, though,” she insisted, pushing up onto her elbows. “I signed a contract.”

Right.

Of course.

She was just doing this for the contract.

The cold in Ben’s chest filtered out to the rest of him and leached into his voice. “You agreed to give me blood from losing your virginity. You did. The contract is satisfied.”

Something odd flickered in her gaze, but he was too angry to examine it. “Ben…”

He stood before she could argue further and broke the circle. “We’re done here.”

They pulled on their clothes in silence, awkward now. Strangers.

He let her out, ignoring the worried look she cast him, and then he was alone again.

Same as always.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **I'm leaving myself _very_ vulnerable with the sex in this chapter and would appreciate sensitivity if you choose to discuss it.** I thank you for your understanding on this matter.
> 
> There is no “right” or “wrong” way to have consensual sex. It is your body and your choice whether to continue or stop. Always. Just like it's your partner's right to stop if they're not comfortable.
> 
> And I’ve said it before and will probably say it again: don’t learn about sex from fictional stories. Ask a doctor if you have questions.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> XD Almost forgot to update this week. (This story's done, I'm just spacing out updates.) Preparing for my kids' joint birthday party. Just family, so I don't have to super-freak-out, but still mildly stressful.

Rey was in the stacks of the library when she saw him again. She walked purposely toward where he sat with his head bent over his notes, but the moment she rounded the bookshelf into view she realized he wasn’t alone.

The table full of dark arts students looked up, startled by her sudden appearance.

“Can we _help_ you?” a red-haired boy asked, his lip curling as he took in her white sweater and ratty jeans, and Rey realized she was just standing there gaping at them like an idiot.

She couldn’t help meeting Ben’s eye, but while he didn’t look like he wanted her to die in a fire (unlike his friends), he also didn’t charge in to rescue her.

“Did… one of you… drop a pen?” Rey stammered, finally turning back to the rest of the table. “In the… stacks? I… I found a pen.” It was probably the lamest excuse she’d ever come up with.

“No,” Ben said and went back to his work.

Rey thought he’d given her the out she needed, but the tall blonde girl across from him asked, “What does it look like?”

“Uh…” she said, then dug in her backpack and pulled out the first pen she could find — her favorite pink glitter gel pen.

The red-haired boy drew back, visibly affronted. “Why the hell would you think _that_ would belong to one of _us_?”

Rey shrugged. “You’re the closest table.”

“It’s not ours,” the blonde girl said, and Rey nodded and retreated into the stacks, grateful for the escape.

“Dumb white witch,” the red-haired boy muttered.

“Hux.”

It was one word, but the warning was clear.

Rey’s heart beat a little faster.

“What,” sneered the red-haired boy. _Hux_. “Fucking her, are you?”

Silence for a moment before Ben’s muffled voice floated over to her. “Like she would ever.”

“Oh my God, you’ve _tried_.” Hux sounded _delighted_. “You tried to fuck one of those uppity white witches. No wonder you kept brushing Bazine off. You have a _type_.”

“Shut up, Hux.”

Obnoxious laughter. “Aww, did she break your heart, Solo? Are you _pining_?”

The thump of something hitting the table, and Rey flinched.

“ _Fuck_.” Hux’s voice was garbled now, and Rey was tempted to sneak a peek, but she didn’t dare get caught spying on them. “You broke my nose! You fucker!”

“Go cry to my mother.”

“I’m telling Snoke!”

A pause. Then a clipped, “Go ahead.”

Rey felt worry settle in her gut as she walked to Germanic Folk Magic.

* * *

Ben dropped a note in campus mail that said, _Saturday?_

A day later, he got the same note back with _Yes_ and a number scribbled on it.

Her phone number.

Right.

They hadn’t exchanged numbers after the… the thing.

* * *

Rey reserved a room in the Bindo Spell Center and met Ben there Saturday evening. She'd had to fill out a form detailing the spell she planned to do, in case something went horribly wrong and someone had to come fix it, but the bored student worker just noted that they’d be using candles, flicked off the sprinklers for that room, and handed Rey a passcard.

Only upperclassmen could do unsupervised spellwork here. There were two spell supervisors on staff to monitor underclassmen, and Rey nodded to them as she led Ben to the farthest room, the passcard clutched in her sweaty palm.

Only seniors were allowed to try dangerous spells in the Bindo Center or volatile potion-brewing in the Windu Alchemical Lab. Juniors had to have their projects signed off on by a professor, but seniors could tinker as much as they wanted. (The theory being that it was safer to do that tinkering in a controlled environment than the moment they graduated.) Most white witches didn’t do much beyond their coursework, though. It was the dark arts students who tried to push the most boundaries, and who had the most accidents by default. It had earned the School of Dark Arts a reputation for recklessness among Rey’s peers.

The room itself was large, empty, and spelled to contain any catastrophically violent spellwork. Between spells, student workers washed it down in energized saltwater to clear out any lingering magic, but the protective spells were worked into the walls themselves and couldn’t be rinsed away.

Rey set her bags of ingredients down and pulled out the spell she’d painstakingly copied into her notes. “Okay,” she breathed, heart beating too hard. “Let’s get this done.”

Ben knelt to help her set everything out. She’d sent him a copy of the spell so he could study it, and she trusted him to know where everything went.

He worked quietly beside her, his big hands gentle on the ingredients, and then he picked up the chalk. “I’ll start the circle.”

The quiet was too much. He had barely glanced at her since they’d arrived. “Ben?”

He turned his head her way. “Yeah?”

“I’m not sorry we had sex,” she blurted, and he turned more fully toward her. “You said it yourself, I could have picked anyone, but I didn’t. And it’s not because you couldn’t say anything, it’s because… I wanted to. I wanted… you. For sex.” She trailed off, feeling incredibly awkward, especially because he was just staring at her and not saying anything. She looked away. “So I’m not sorry we had sex. I’m just sorry it ended so soon.” A steadying breath. “I was… I’d been looking forward to it. A lot.”

His footsteps were nearly silent as he approached and crouched to get on eye level with her. The intensity there made the blood rush to her face. “Will it mess up the spell if I fuck you in here?”

She could only imagine how comical she looked with a red face and wide eyes, but she shook her head. It would _not_ mess up the spell.

His hands cupped her shoulders with clear intent, and her eyes flickered up to the far corner of the room.

“The camera,” she whispered. It was a safety precaution, so students could get help the moment a spell went awry.

“There’s only one. I’ll fuck you under it, in the blind spot.” He drew her up and held her hand as she carefully stepped over her spell ingredients, following him almost dazedly to the corner.

“What about… sound?” She gasped as his mouth latched onto the curve of her neck where it met her shoulder.

“No microphones,” he mumbled against her skin, his hands working their way under her shirt so he could tug at her bra and palm her tits. “And no swivel. We’re hidden.”

Rey lifted her arms so he could remove her shirt, and then his mouth was on her chest and his hands were on the fastening of her jeans, and he was tugging them off her legs, lifting her, pressing her against the cold wall. Rey shivered at the chill along her back and gasped against the heat of his mouth as it slanted over hers.

She tried to fumble a hand between them to paw at his jeans, but he adjusted his hold on her so that he could unfasten them and push them down his hips, enough to free his cock and line it up just right.

Gravity pulled her down onto him, little by little, and his eyes closed, mouth open like he was savoring the slide in. He bounced her a little, teasing them both as her cunt swallowed him inch by slow inch.

She’d been thinking about this for so long, was so turned on, that she _squelched_ as he bottomed out.

He froze and groaned into her hair. “Rey.”

“You feel so good,” she whispered.

He groaned again and adjusted his hold on her. “Fuck, sweetheart. I missed your pretty cunt.”

Warmth spread over her at the words. Rey could get addicted to that feeling. “I want you. Please, Ben. Please.”

He shifted her up an inch. “Did you miss my dick?” He pressed a frantic kiss to her shoulder and dropped her onto his cock hard enough to pull a squeal out of her. “Hm?”

“ _So_ much.”

“How much, baby?” Another lift and drop. Rey’s legs clung to his thick waist, and she didn’t quite remember wrapping them around him.

“I want your dick so bad. Ben. Please.”

He groaned and shifted her until he could plunge in, no longer using gravity to fuck her on his cock.

She sank her nails into his shoulders, needing something to hold onto, an anchor as sensation threatened to wash her away. She ended up fisting his shirt and leaning back against the wall, letting him control the pace and the depth.

"How long have you wanted this?"

Rey whimpered and shook her head, unable to form words, but he shoved tight inside her and stopped, forcing her tongue loose. "A while," she gasped, trying to gain enough leverage to slide up and down his shaft, but he held her tight, not letting her move.

"Do you want to know the things I've thought about doing to this tight little pussy?"

He started to move again, and Rey groaned in relief.

"I wanted to bend you over the library table in front of my idiot classmates and show them how you part your legs for me." He thrust into her, his arms trembling and his forehead glistening with sweat, but his grip stayed sure and his eyes never left her face. "The sounds you make." Another thrust, this one angled so it hit something that whited out her brain. "How you give _me_ this sweet cunt."

He shuddered and dropped his mouth to hers, kissing her through the last few hard pumps of his hips.

As he curled over her to kiss her hair, she thought he said _I love you_.

But it was so soft, she wasn't sure.

And then he was lifting her off his cock and turning her, making her forget her own name as he dipped his fingers between her spread legs and whispered dirty words in her ear as he got her off.

* * *

"You've gotten better at that," she said when they were slumped to the floor together, bodies cooling.

He nipped her ear. "We should probably start your spell before we run out of time."

"The room is ours all night," she replied, boneless and not wanting to move but also increasingly uncomfortable on the bare floor.

"Well, I'd rather fuck you in a bed next, so let's get this done." He smacked her thigh, and she poked him in the side, and he grinned.

It wasn't a charming or sexy grin. It was sweet. Shy. Boyish. It left her disarmed, her heart beating a touch too fast as she realized she was in _much_ deeper than she'd thought.

* * *

The spell worked, but it left Rey in no mood for sex afterward. Instead, Ben cleaned up their materials and took her back to his dorm room, where he held her as she cried.

Her parents hadn't wanted her.

And Ben had seen all of it, all the same visions, but he hadn't _said_ anything, still didn't, and Rey wanted to scream at him to say it, just say it, say that she was unwanted and unloved, a throwaway child.

Eventually, she asked him what he was thinking.

He tucked his chin on top of her head. "I'm wondering if there are ways to punish the dead."

Rey thought about her class on malignant spirits and all the warnings and protections and cleansing rituals ( _kindergartners_ knew to burn sage to cleanse a space, but Rey had to endure a condescending old witch lecturing her very expensive university class on it). "The dead are vengeful," she reminded him, letting the rise and fall of his chest under her cheek soothe her.

His arms tightened around her. "So am I."


	4. Chapter 4

Rey's friends tried to sneak her a love spell antidote the day after she told them she was seeing Ben Solo.

She knew what they were up to — berry smoothies did _not_ normally taste like motherwort, juniper, and sage — but she drank it down to ease their minds.

Ben laughed when she told him about it later and said they'd taken their concerns to his mom, who had promptly called him in for a serious chat.

"Is she upset?" Rey asked, biting her lip and feeling oddly vulnerable.

Ben rolled his eyes. "She thinks you'll be good for me. Help me get over this 'rebellious' dark magic phase."

Rey wrinkled her nose, annoyed on his behalf. "She actually said that?"

"Well, no," he admitted. "It was more… implied." He brushed his fingers across hers and gave her a private smile that made his eyes crinkle. “She’s happy for us.”

Rey laced her fingers with his and smiled back. “I’m happy, too.”

* * *

Advanced Healing with Professor Skywalker was an 8AM class that Rey couldn’t miss because, well, the class was small and Professor Skywalker had this _disappointed look_ he’d give anyone who didn’t have a good excuse for skipping.

Rey hadn’t had time to grab coffee that morning because she’d been up late talking to Ben, so she felt fuzzy-brained as class ended. She made her way to the front, needing to ask Professor Skywalker a clarification question about the paper due in two weeks.

Professor Skywalker was discussing homework with three of her classmates when he glanced toward the doorway and raised his brows. “Ben!” he called.

Rey turned to see a familiar head of dark hair and broad shoulders edge by the students leaving the classroom. He wore sunglasses and dark clothing, every inch the dark arts student, and her classmates glanced at him as they passed, some even stopping to watch him pass by. Dark arts students had no reason to be in this building, and Ben’s notoriety would have drawn stares anyway — most of her classmates knew who he was but had probably never been this close to him.

“Did you need something?” Professor Skywalker asked him, and Ben tossed him a smile and shook his head.

“Nope.” He stepped around the white witches surrounding his uncle and stopped in front of Rey, looking down at her with a satisfied tilt to his lips and a confident set to his shoulders.

Rey didn’t realize he was holding two cups of coffee until he held one out to her.

Everyone stared as she took it, and Rey felt her own smile bloom in response to his.

Ben pushed his sunglasses up into his hair, and his smile grew. He winked, like they were sharing a private joke, and Rey realized he _liked_ being seen with her. He wanted people to know.

Rey liked being seen with him, too.

“Thank you,” she said, pleased.

“Of course. It’s my fault you were up so late, after all.”

Someone gasped, and Rey bit her lip on a laugh. They were speaking quietly, but everyone was dead silent, shamelessly eavesdropping. “I _do_ tend to go on about magical theory,” she murmured, blushing. It hadn’t been just talking that had kept them up, but they _had_ talked. Naked in his bed, skin to skin, his fingers tracing patterns on her arms, they’d talked at length about many things.

“I liked the idea of co-writing a paper,” he agreed, expression mischievous like he knew _exactly_ why she was telling half-truths. They had discussed which academic journals might be interested in a paper on his theory that magic had been trained to accept certain ingredients more readily than others, and Rey had been enthusiastic enough that they’d agreed to work on it together.

Ben’s smile turned teasing. “Of course, that’s if you think you can hold up your end of the research.”

Rey held back a laugh. “I’m not signing a contract with you, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“Never,” he replied, and he leaned in, and Rey raised on her tiptoes, and their lips met for just a second, just a peck, but her cheeks flamed bright red when she drew back and saw a bunch of shocked faces.

She shrugged at them. “What? We’re dating.”

That seemed to break the spell over her classmates because they turned and murmured to each other for a few seconds before someone remembered that they had important questions for Professor Skywalker (and other classes they needed to get to) and broke the professor out of his stunned surprise. (Though he kept casting Rey and Ben thoughtful glances as he responded to his students.)

Taking a relieved breath now that most of the attention was off of her, Rey shifted her bag and took a sip of her coffee. It was too sweet, but she felt a little bubble of giddiness when she thought about Ben bringing her coffee in the future.

“I didn’t know how you take it, so I guessed.”

“I usually go for plain cold brew.”

“Noted.”

And another smile overtook her because she knew that next time he’d get it exactly right. He was just… the type. He paid attention to details.

Rey was the last to speak to Professor Skywalker, and he answered her question about the upcoming paper before gesturing between the two of them. “So, when did this…?”

“Recently,” Rey said, casting a fond look up at Ben. They were standing so close that their arms were almost touching, but it felt natural. Normal. She liked him in her space, and he must have liked her in his because he always moved closer when they were together.

Professor Skywalker seemed at a loss for words, but he got out, “And… how?”

Rey shared a look with Ben, who raised a taunting brow at her. Rey laughed and reached up to brush a stray lock of hair off of his face where his sunglasses had displaced his usual curls. “Your nephew is a good man, professor.”

Ben’s expression softened, and Rey got lost in the warmth of his eyes, the depth of the affection she saw there. She swayed toward him, but a loud throat clearing broke her out of the moment.

“Alright, then,” said Professor Skywalker awkwardly, gaze flitting to anything _but_ them, a light flush on his cheeks.

Glancing at Ben, she saw a similar flush, and she realized he’d lost himself in her eyes as much as she’d lost herself in his.

“Are you _blushing_?”

Ben narrowed his eyes at her, but the flush didn’t go away.

Rey raised onto her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “You’re cute.”

His jaw shifted, and he looked away, but he was fighting a smile. “Am not.” Then he caught sight of the clock on the wall, and his brows furrowed. “Don’t you have another class now?”

Rey’s eyes widened. “Oh crap, I’m late.” She grabbed Ben’s free arm and tugged him along, careful not to jostle his coffee, and called a quick goodbye to Professor Skywalker. They were in the hall before she slowed and released Ben’s arm to glance at him with a frown. “Don’t you have class now, too?”

He shrugged. “I can be late. I’d rather walk you to yours.”

“You can’t make a habit of it,” she pointed out.

“Just this once,” he promised, and her chest filled with so much affection that she had to stop and kiss him.

“Maybe twice,” he breathed when she finally pulled away.

Rey laughed, and he wrapped an arm around her waist as they walked much more sedately toward her next class.

* * *

Ben was standing with Hux and Phasma in the student center, discussing a project they had due in a few weeks, when something behind him caught Hux’s eye.

Hux smirked and said, just the wrong side of too loud, “Hey look, Solo, there’s your girlfriend.”

Ben turned and saw Rey entering with her friends. They were all looking his way, and they’d clearly heard Hux, who’d been taunting Ben about Rey ever since she’d approached them in the library that first time.

Ben had not bothered to educate him.

Ben’s heart did a belly flop at the sight of her, in her plain white tee and jeans, sexy without even trying to be, and something a little lower down took notice after she glanced behind him at his classmates, fixed a mischievous look on Ben, and started over, trailed by nervous-looking white witches.

Ben felt heat pool under his skin when he realized her hips were subtly swaying with every step, and he swallowed.

White witches tended to go for lighter colors and neutrals, an aesthetic difference between her side of the school and his, and one which played into the lie that white witches were wholesome and innocent and didn’t have the same carnal desires as Ben’s crowd.

It was also a lie that all dark witches were ultra sexual. Sure, the dark arts had a prominent sexual undertone, but Ben imagined that his classmates weren’t any more or less sexual than the rest of the student body. As a whole, it seemed to him like dark witches were simply more open about (and less embarrassed by) their sexuality.

All of this was why he did not expect Rey to plant a hand on his chest, back him up to a nearby chair, press him into it, and then _straddle him_.

Ben stopped breathing as she leaned in to whisper in his ear, “I hate that guy.” And then she kissed him, long and deep and filthy, urging him to respond until he forgot where they were and pressed his hands into her back pockets to grab her ass, pulling her tighter and grinding her against his burgeoning erection.

“So…” someone said with somewhat desperate awkwardness. “Catch the game last night?”

“What game?”

“Any fucking game, man.”

Rey broke the kiss on a soft chuckle but didn’t get off his lap. She didn’t seem to care that they had an audience. “See you tonight?”

He nodded, trying to gather the shreds of his brain she’d scattered, and Rey climbed off of him like she was _dismounting a fucking horse_.

Ben flexed his fingers and told himself he couldn’t throw her over his shoulder and carry her off for a quick fuck.

She sent a flirty look back at him as she rejoined her friends, and one of them complained that she’d ruined his appetite.

Ben’s head was buzzing, and his cock ached, and it took most of his willpower not to follow her.

“You’re fucking _her_?” Hux asked incredulously. Ben blinked and laboriously shifted his attention as Hux shook his head and said, “Let me rephrase that. _She’s_ fucking _you_?” The look of utter disbelief on his face was honestly rather satisfying. At least until his expression turned pinched and he said, “You paid her to do that, didn’t you.”

Ben rolled his eyes and stood. “I honestly don’t care what you think.” And was surprised to realize he _didn’t_. Considering how much he wanted to put his hands back on Rey, Hux didn’t really factor into Ben’s thoughts just then.

So Ben pulled his phone out and texted, ignoring Hux’s complaints altogether.

 **Ben Solo:** You’re in so much trouble tonight.

 **Rey:** Promise?

He grinned at his phone and heard Phasma say, “Give it up, he’s not even listening.”

* * *

“Naughty girl. Do you know how many people saw you grinding on my lap?”

Rey moaned, the sound staccato from the slapping of his hips against her ass. They were in his dorm room, where he’d dragged her immediately after his last class.

“I hated the way he talked to you,” she gasped. “In the… _oh God…_ in the library. Like you weren’t… _oh_ … good enough to fuck me.”

“I’m fucking you now,” he gritted out, slamming into her from behind. “Wanted to fuck you right there in the student center.”

She turned her face enough that he could see her smile. “I could tell.” Her eyes rolled briefly back, and her voice came out breathy. “Looked like you wanted to eat me up. God… _Ben_.”

“Gonna ruin that good girl reputation if you keep doing shit like that. Straddling your boyfriend in public.”

Another smile. “You’re my boyfriend?”

He paused, fully sheathed inside her, lungs working hard and hair damp with sweat. “I mean… ah… if… if you want.”

“I’d like that.”

The breath left him altogether, and then he pulled out, pressed her onto her back, and stared into her eyes for a long moment. “I’d like that, too.”

Her smile felt like sunshine, and he nuzzled into the hand she placed on his cheek.

“Boyfriend.”

“Girlfriend,” he whispered into her palm, and leaned down to kiss her.

It was slow and soft and wet, gentle in a way that made his heart swell, and it was Rey who lifted her hips to slip him back inside her. He moved while kissing her, long drags that teased and made them both pant into the kiss.

“I love you."

Rey gasped and tightened around him, and he realized she was _coming_. Just from hearing those three little words.

As he grunted and spilled inside his condom, she cupped his face and whispered breathless into his ear, like a secret, “I love you, too.”

* * *

"Sex magic is notoriously unreliable."

Ben turned his face to his girlfriend where she sat halfway on his lap, sharing a plush armchair in the student center as they enjoyed the relative quiet to do some class-required reading. "Yes," he agreed.

She had her bottom lip caught between her teeth, which meant she'd had an idea but didn't want to come out and say it.

Ben raised a brow and asked, "Did you want to try it?"

"There's just this one spell," she replied, pulling a sheet of paper out from her bag, like she'd been waiting for the right moment. "I noticed it and thought, hey, it might be fun to try."

He took the spell and looked over it. "Just a passing thought?" He smirked at her over the carefully translated and color-coded page.

"We don't have to," she hurried to say, blushing as she reached for the spell.

Ben held it out of reach, grateful for his longer arms, and made a show of examining it. "Yeah, we could try it."

Her face lit up. “Really?”

He handed the spell back over and smiled at her. “Yeah, why not.”

As Rey beamed at him, a young man in light-colored khakis cleared his throat.

They both looked up, not entirely surprised at the interruption. They’d become less of a novelty over the last few weeks, and most people didn’t approach them anymore, but there were still a few brazen souls too curious to keep their questions to themselves.

“We wanted to thank you,” the young man said. He glanced behind himself and Ben realized that he wasn’t alone. A petite dark witch with long hair and artfully ripped tights was just behind him. “We were afraid to tell our friends about us, but after you two started dating…”

“You made it okay,” the girl finished for him, moving forward enough to clasp the young man’s hand. “We’ve been together for ages, but we didn’t think anybody would understand.” Her young man looked down at her with obvious adoration.

Ben shared a look with Rey, and her delight made the edges of his lips tick upward. He wondered how many other couples had been in hiding like this one, and how many they’d see walking hand-in-hand around campus this year.

The little dark witch turned back to them. “Our friends thought we were just… having fun together, or that I’d seduced him. You know, like dark witches do.” She rolled her eyes, and Ben nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. There were still people who thought he was using Rey, that she was more invested than he was, and that he would break her heart. White witches always talked like dark witches tempted and then discarded their lovers, and that it was only ever about sex.

Like dark witches didn’t have feelings, too.

It was stupid.

“I’m happy for you,” Rey said earnestly, and Ben squeezed her with the arm he had around her waist.

“Don’t let anybody give you shit,” he said, which was the closest he was willing to get to congratulating them.

Rey beamed. “And if anyone does, send them our way. We’ll straighten them out.”

Ben snorted a laugh. “Everyone thinks I’m the scary one,” he confided, then pointed at Rey. “She’s _terrifying_.”

Rey ran her fingers up the back of his neck and into his hair, smiling. “You like terrifying.”

He shrugged and smiled back. “Never said I didn’t.”

She snuggled into him and chatted with the young couple for a little while longer, carrying the conversation well enough that Ben could relax and enjoy the feel of her in his arms.

They were both busy people, him and Rey. Studying, writing papers, working on projects, plus the high demand for their time by professors and classmates alike. With everything going on, Ben hadn’t found time to summon his grandfather. He hadn’t really tried to _make_ time, though.

Instead, he found himself making time for _her_ , finding ways to spend a few extra moments together. Sometimes working quietly beside her, the sound of her breath and warmth of her presence, was just as good as the sex. Different. Softer. But still amazing.

And for the first time in what might have been years, he felt… happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not the most perfect last line, but it'll suffice.
> 
> [AO3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OptimisticBeth/works) | [Tumblr](https://optimisticsprinkles.tumblr.com/) | [Twitter](https://twitter.com/EABlevins)


End file.
